Electric cars are changing the cost of driving

[sloeffle]

Between my wife and I, we average around 40k miles a year of driving. I've often thought about getting an electric car as our next car due to the lower TCO but I can't stomach the upfront cost. This article sheds some light about the TCO of owning an electric vs ICE .

Electric cars are changing the cost of driving

The economics of driving seven Teslas for 2.5 million miles.

qz.com

 

[begreen]

That's an interesting read. Thanks for posting.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

This is a good article!

 

[SpaceBus]

That's pretty amazing. It's been long predicted that fleets would be the number one beneficiaries of electric vehicles, it's another story to see the data.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We have 3 trucks on the road and just added a 4th on Friday. Our gas bill is about $2300/mo. We're semi retiring the 99 F250 to backup status. I'm hoping the gas saved from a 10-12mpg truck pays for the new one averaging over 19mpg since Friday. 2 of the trucks average 150-200 miles a day.

I'll be watching the range of electric pickups closely once they come out for people who live with a half ton in the bed of their truck. Charging is still a huge concern to me. I cant have my techs plugging their trucks in at their house.

I can just see the call now... hi, yeah, I can't finish the day because I forgot to plug the truck in last night. And can you come get me?

 

[Where2]

That article was a good read. Using FuelEconomy.gov anyone can calculate the cost per mile of what they currently drive versus an electric. When I ran my own driving habit numbers through the website in August prior to purchasing my e-Golf, I was astounded how cheap it is to roll down the road on electrons ($0.83 to drive 25 miles) versus dinosaurs ($2.12 to drive 25 miles). In the two months I've had my e-Golf, I've driven close to 1,000 total miles. I'm averaging 4.2 miles per kWh down here in the flat lands of south Florida using A/C 100% of the time. (I even have it programmed fire up the A/C to cool the car down at lunch before I leave the office) I have friends in Wisconsin who have had two Chevy Volts, and their average miles per kWh have been very similar. They used to be able to charge for free at work, which is an obvious "bonus" equivalent to the boss saying "here, use my credit card to refuel your car...". I don't get that luxury. My office parking lot has ~20 vehicles in it, and two are EV's. (The other is a Tesla driven by the guy who owns the building)

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I was wondering how the reliability was on teslas after some serious use. The ford escape hybrids did quite well as NY taxis for sometime now. A lot of miles when mostly in town short trip stop and go driving.

This Is What A 500,000 Mile NYC Taxi Valvetrain Looks Like

If you drove a car hour after hour, day after day through Manhattan as a taxi, you’d expect the engine to be completely haggard right? Look again.

jalopnik.com

Road test: A 2012 Ford Hybrid New York taxi with 400,000 miles

A 2012 Ford Escape Hybrid taxi with 400,000 miles on the odometer tells a lot about where hybrids have been and where they might go tomorrow

www.detroitnews.com

 

[jebatty]

From a personal perspective, the simple cost savings from charging at home and eliminating buying gas plus freeing up time that otherwise would be spent at the gas station or having a vehicle serviced plus the less visible reduction of air pollution with its adverse health impacts is worth a lot in day to day living. More time for family, hobbies, recreation or even work that helps the family income. All pluses of e-vehicles.

 

[sloeffle]

Our gas bill is about $2300/mo.

We live out in the country and both commute into the city for our jobs. As a rough estimate, we spend around $300/mo on gas between our three vehicles. The cars we drive to work get around 30MPG on the highway. One of our vehicles is a gas Chevy 2500HD that gets maybe 15MPG on a good day. Luckily, I don't drive it much.

I can just see the call now... hi, yeah, I can't finish the day because I forgot to plug the truck in last night. And can you come get me?

If my was wife was to switch over to an EV I'm not sure how'd I'd be able to wire up a 240V plug in the garage. We'd probably have to switch parking spots and then a cord would have to run in front of the stairs going into the house.

 

[Ashful]

The maintenance thing has got my attention. My wife’s car just went into the shop again this weekend. The $750 cost of repair is one thing, but the hassle of having to drive 70 minutes round-trip to drop it off at the dealer, and then another 70 minutes round trip to pick it back up a few days later, along with the hassle of being without the car, is enough to ruin the tranquility of a two-career household with kids.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The maintenance thing has got my attention too. Along with the possibility of running a fleet of odometers to 250k.

 

[Where2]

If my was wife was to switch over to an EV I'm not sure how'd I'd be able to wire up a 240V plug in the garage. We'd probably have to switch parking spots and then a cord would have to run in front of the stairs going into the house.

The Level 2 charger I picked up recently has a 25' cord. If I mount the charger in the correct location, and the wife parks appropriately, I could park behind her and still charge my car... You can also buy extension cords for the standard J1772 chargers. If you're having a 240V outlet installed, or installing your own, you can put the outlet where ever you think is most appropriate. However, pay attention to the charger you intend to install. Many 240V chargers come with REALLY short cords to plug in. Mine has a 12" cord to reach the outlet. I looked inside the device and see no reason why this cord needs to be so short! It could have had a cord the length of a 50A range cord...